Devil's Bargain

Steve Bannon, Donald Trump, and the Storming of the Presidency

The instant #1 New York Times bestseller.From the reporter who was there at the very beginning comes the revealing inside story of the partnership between Steve Bannon and Donald Trump—the key to understanding the rise of the alt-right, the fall of Hillary Clinton, and the hidden forces that drove the greatest upset in American political history. Based on dozens of interviews conducted over six years, Green spins the master narrative of the 2016 campaign from its origins in the far fringes of right-wing politics and reality television to its culmination inside Trump's penthouse on election night. The shocking elevation of Bannon to head Trump's flagging presidential campaign on August 17, 2016, hit political Washington like a thunderclap and seemed to signal the meltdown of the Republican Party. Bannon was a bomb-throwing pugilist who'd never run a campaign and was despised by Democrats and Republicans alike. Yet Bannon's hard-edged ethno-nationalism and his elaborate, years-long plot to destroy Hillary Clinton paved the way for Trump's unlikely victory. Trump became the avatar of a dark but powerful worldview that dominated the airwaves and spoke to voters whom others couldn't see. Trump's campaign was the final phase of a populist insurgency that had been building up in America for years, and Bannon, its inscrutable mastermind, believed it was the culmination of a hard-right global uprising that would change the world. Any study of Trump's rise to the presidency is unavoidably a study of Bannon. Devil's Bargain is a tour-de-force telling of the remarkable confluence of circumstances that decided the election, many of them orchestrated by Bannon and his allies, who really did plot a vast, right-wing conspiracy to stop Clinton. To understand Trump's extraordinary rise and Clinton's fall, you have to weave Trump's story together with Bannon's, or else it doesn't make sense.

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From the reporter who was there at the very beginning comes the revealing inside story of the partnership between Steve Bannon and Donald Trump—the key to understanding the rise of the alt-right, the fall of Hillary Clinton, and the hidden forces that drove the greatest upset in American political history.

Based on dozens of interviews conducted over six years, Green spins the master narrative of the 2016 campaign from its origins in the far fringes of right-wing politics and reality television to its culmination inside Trump’s penthouse on election night.

The shocking elevation of Bannon to head Trump’s flagging presidential campaign on August 17, 2016, hit political Washington like a thunderclap and seemed to signal the meltdown of the Republican Party. Bannon was a bomb-throwing pugilist who’d never run a campaign and was despised by Democrats and Republicans alike.

Yet Bannon’s hard-edged ethno-nationalism and his elaborate, years-long plot to destroy Hillary Clinton paved the way for Trump’s unlikely victory. Trump became the avatar of a dark but powerful worldview that dominated the airwaves and spoke to voters whom others couldn’t see. Trump’s campaign was the final phase of a populist insurgency that had been building up in America for years, and Bannon, its inscrutable mastermind, believed it was the culmination of a hard-right global uprising that would change the world.

Any study of Trump’s rise to the presidency is unavoidably a study of Bannon. Devil’s Bargain is a tour-de-force telling of the remarkable confluence of circumstances that decided the election, many of them orchestrated by Bannon and his allies, who really did plot a vast, right-wing conspiracy to stop Clinton. To understand Trump's extraordinary rise and Clinton’s fall, you have to weave Trump’s story together with Bannon’s, or else it doesn't make sense.

A visit to the "dark side", featuring Steve Bannon, and how he came to such a position of influence, and then directed the trump campaign's final stage. No question of his qualifications as an "evil genius"--who recognized an opening (or "path to winning") by attacking Hillary--via Brietbart. You underestimate this guy at your own peril. But he also had tons of backing from an even darker side--the ultra-rich and extreme right wing Mercer family. Very interesting but chilling to see how he manipulated media--even anti-trump media--to play his "attack Hillary" game to perfection. Worth the read. Now, I gotta take a very hot shower.

As this first analysis of the 2016 presidential campaign makes clear, the election of Trump wouldn't have happened (and almost didn't) without Steve Bannon's strategy, connections, and abundant dirty tricks. Although Green, a political correspondent, had a front row seat through the whole campaign, it took him (and many others) a lot of post-election time and serious digging to put the pieces together. As the author delves into the lives and beliefs of both Bannon and Trump, he illustrates how a campaign based solely on hating the Clintons created the biggest political upset in American election history. Written in a fast-paced, accessible style, Green takes the reader through over 40 years of political history, dirty tricks, and revenge motives to show how we got here in 2016. Although the book was published before Bannon's ouster from the White House, Green predicted it in his final chapter, Kali Yuga. This chapter ends with the three reasons the author believes has created disorder and confusion in the Trump administration -- 1) "Trump thought being president was about asserting dominance.; 2) Trump ran against the Republican Party, Wall Street, and Paul Ryan, but then took up their agenda.; and 3) Trump doesn't believe in nationalism or any other political philosophy -- he's fundamentally a creature of his own ego." Green's work is the only first in what I'm sure will be a long line of armchair political quarterbacks of the 2016 U.S. presidential election.

A short but excellent introduction to the relationship of Steve Bannon and Donald Trump and how it has dominated Trump's beliefs and actions. Bannon brags that his Breitbart website is the platform for the alt-Right. The book explains that Bannon and his web-site convinced Trump that the only way he could win the presidency was to satisfy his base by slamming immigrants, Mexicans, Muslims, Obama and the Clintons. Bannon also convinced Trump that he could solidify his base by stating that the break-up of NATO and the European Union is necessary to help improve their living standard. I would suggest that the potential reader of this book view Breitbart News for a few days and if you agree with Breitbart you should pass on this book.

20170818 Fri - Bannon is terminated. Today is his last day.
Previously he was offered the opportunity to resign.
Bannon refused to resign.
Between then and today, he sought out - not the other way around - The American Prospect's publisher, Robert Kuttner and did a most interesting interview. The American Prospect is a small, liberal/progressive paper.
"Don't let up, darkness is good." Steve Bannon (Darth Vader of the West Wing) to DJ Trump during 2016 campaign as reported in Joshua Green's book, “Devil’s Bargain"
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"Lightening the lifeboat" is what a Republican CRISIS strategist, Kevin Eckery, said on CBC of the firing of Steve Bannon.